The Intel Core i9-14900KS CPU’s pricing has been revealed by US retailer Micro Center. The Blue Team’s champion desktop segment will soon crown a new king, though at a much higher cost than the next in line.
According to Micro Center, the $749 Core i9-14900KS is positioned $60 dearer than its predecessor – the Core i9-14900KS. This rises to $113 if we consider the current retail price of the i9-13900KS which hovers around $636. Things get even worse when comparing it to the Core i9-14900K. This time, the gap grows to a worrying 44% as the K variant can be had for $520 at Micro Center. As a reminder, the i9-14900K is nearly identical to the i9-13900KS, and we don’t expect the KS to be that much faster.
This is definitely a chip for those chasing the highest clocks possible. Those looking for a gaming or office machine can easily find much cheaper alternatives. The formers would probably lean towards a Ryzen 7 7800X3D, with the latter going for a Core i9-13900K or Ryzen 9 7950X. These are found at $370, $523, and $600 respectively.
Naturally, this begs the question, what are the benefits of choosing the newer flagship chip over its predecessor? The answer is not much, unfortunately. Aside from a slight 200MHz frequency increase, there are no drastic architecture changes afoot, reinforcing our thoughts on near-identical performance to the Core i9-14900K. The KS version is expected to continue using 8 P-cores plus 16 E-cores, totalling 32 threads, built on the Intel 7 process.
On the bright side, this special-edition CPU should get the best silicon Intel has to offer, meaning potentially higher overclocking and fast memory support, though this will probably come at a high heat output if recently history is anything to go by. Lastly, Micro Center indicates the chip is rated for 150W thermal power – like last-gen KS – with support on Z690, H670, B660, H610, Z790, B760, and H770 chipset motherboards.
In any case, we should have definite pricing and performance on March 14 when the Core i9-14900KS officially launches.